


Another time, another place

by RKG



Category: Tangled: The Series (Cartoon)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-11
Updated: 2018-07-11
Packaged: 2019-05-21 11:08:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14914242
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RKG/pseuds/RKG
Summary: Varian and Cass team up to be villains together... but what if it was more than that?





	Another time, another place

**Author's Note:**

> Kind of based on chiscribbles4smiles Villain!AU that she posted about when I asked her on tumblr ;D Older!Varian and Cass. :) This one may not be for the faint of heart. ;) ALSO I'M NOT SORRY, IT'S ANGST WEEK!!!

Explosions and evil, villain laughter, that's what it was all about, right?

Except that, one time, it hadn't been. A long time ago he remembered when Cassandra was a good person, back when they were both good people, before the crown had betrayed them both, before their days were spent conning people and destroying lives. A part of him missed that Cassandra, and a a part of him missed being _that_ Varian.

"What?" she asked, irritably, looking over at him.

"O-Oh... n-nothing." Suddenly he was a boy again, chastised by his first crush. He brushed it off with a chuckle.

Except, this time the con had felt different. They had pretended to be travelers who had been attacked by bandits, only to turn and become the bandits themselves. Which wouldn't have been all that different from their usual gag, except this time the angle they had played was slightly different... 

" _Oh, won't somebody please help my husband_?!" cried Cassandra, as he lay 'dying' by the side of the road.

He hadn't expected his heart to skip a beat when hearing the words, nor had he expected a resurgence of old feelings, but he thankfully hadn't had much time to focus on it before the signal was given and they had taken the caravan, and left only fire and flame in their wake.

"So, did you get it?" he asked.

"I got as much as we'll need for awhile."

Try as she might, a part of Cass was still honest. She never stole more than they needed, in spite of the ample opportunity to get rich. Of course, he couldn't judge, he was guilty of the same thing.

"Did you get anything?" she asked.

He emptied his pockets.

"Seriously? Candlesticks? Why candlesticks?"

"They're gold. We can sell them." he shrugged.

"That doesn't mean they're real gold. Besides, hello, _wanted_ posters?!" she pointed to a nearby tree. "We can't actually legitimately _sell_ anything." she pointed out.

"Then... we just go to a place where we're not wanted." suggested Varian.

"We're wanted in 6 out of 7 Kingdoms! It's only a matter of time now!" she reminded him.

"Then we travel beyond that!"

"To _where_?!" she cried.

"I... I don't know. Somewhere!" he shrugged.

"Varian, be serious." she muttered with a disapproving look. She was always the one that had to even out the plans he was making. Sure, he had some great ideas but they weren't always logical, or feasible, and sometimes the plans went completely south and they narrowly escaped with their lives. She remembered when she had first met with him again, he had quite literally _fallen_ into her lap after one of his explosions got out of control.

" _Nice to see you again.... milady_..." he had panted before promptly passing out. 

She had lifted off that goofy, glowing-eyed mask to reveal a goofy, unconcious Alchemist underneath. Of course when he had come to they had almost come to blows but he was a little bit too dazed to be good at the fight. Finally, she had cornered him, dagger at his throat. He had held up his hands in surrender.

" _Okay, okay_!" he had cried. " _I... I give! What is it... Cassandra...?_ "

" _I don't want to be blown to bits during one of your little 'experiments', so your loyalty is with me, got it_?"

He hesitated, " _I-I think I-I'll need a lot more than_ \--"

The dagger blade bit into his neck.

" _OW! Okay, fine_." he had grumbled, rubbing the side of his neck. Although truth be told, the thought of teaming up with Cassandra had intrigued him. He had never actually been on the same side as her before, even when he was a 'good' person, but now...

He looked over at her, sure, the scenario they had gone through had been fake... but his feelings on the matter were real. He really _would_ die for Cassandra if it came down to it. But he couldn't really tell her this, she had a habit of laughing in the face of most guys who professed their undying love for her. He didn't think he could recover from something like that so he stayed silent. But that particular day, something was nagging at him, and it wouldn't go away.

"You ever think about what it would be like?" he asked.

"What _what_ would be like?" she snorted.

"Oh, I don't know... settling down?"

"Pffffft, and what, having a family that's a band of merry thieves? Robin Hood I ain't." she snorted.

"It wouldn't _have_ to be thieves, you know." he reminded her.

"Nah, besides that, I haven't met one guy I'd like to settle down _with_." she spat.

That stung.

"I... I see." he said quietly. "Yeah, me either. I was just wondering." 

"So in all the 6 kingdoms we've traveled to, you've never looked at a girl and thought about it?"

"It's not that I haven't..." he trailed off. " _It's just every time that girl has been you_." he finished mentally.

"But what?"

"I... like to take it slow." he stalled. "And our lifestyle isn't exactly the slowest-paced thing on earth."

"True." shrugged Cassandra. "Good point. Maybe I would've said that, long ago." said Cassandra in an almost wistful tone. 

"It's not... too late... you know." he said softly, brushing her hair back from her face. "We could--"

"WE?!" cried Cassandra. "Are you crazy?!"

She knew he'd had a crush on her back in the day, but she thought he had forgotten about it. Now she was confronted with this mess again. She had never really thought about her own feelings on the matter, sure he had been supportive of her so far, even comforted her at times when she missed her Dad, but... now?

"Y-Yeah, we could." he continued, trying to sound braver than he felt at the moment.

She shook her head. "N-No, Varian, that's crazy. Then what? Then we actually WOULD get caught because they'd figure out we're each other's weakness! I'm not having it, Varian." said Cassandra.

"So what? We're the only thing we have left in the world!" he pointed out.

"Maybe to you." she snorted, crossing her arms.

"Oh, really? Tell me, what do you possibly have left in this world? Your Dad? Rapunzel? Your Dad is dead and you turned your back on Corona--"

"Do you think I don't know that?!" she cried. "And by the way, so's YOUR Dad!" she spat.

"He's not... dead! Just trapped!" his voice broke a little at the word 'dead'.

"Sure, whatever keeps you warm at night, sweetheart." she rolled her eyes.

"Right now you're the only thing I got left in this world, why am I wrong to want to hold onto that?!"

Hoofbeats... the royal guards. They had been spotted.

Quickly, Cassadra dashed off. Varian followed.

" _Saved by the royal guard, what a coincidence._ he thought bitterly, chasing after her.

Cassandra was a fast runner but there was only so much she could do up against an armed archer on a horse. Distantly he heard her scream.

" _Hold on Cassie_!" he thought, " _I'm coming_!"

He found her making her way through the trees, her arm was bloody but she had managed to pull out the arrow that hit her.

"Are you okay?!" he asked, panting.

"I-I'll be okay." she bit her lip to try and keep from crying from the pain.

They found a rocky outcrop and hid beneath it.

"D-Did you get hit?" she asked, her voice wavering.

"No, I'm fine." he panted. "Perfectly fine."

He looked at her bleeding arm and saw how much pain she was in and instantly grimaced. He pulled out a vial and dropped something onto the wound to make it stop bleeding and to kill some of the pain.

"Th-Thank you..." 

He cupped her cheek. "Now do you see my point?"

Of all the moments for it to happen, that's when Cassandra's heart fluttered.

"STOP! In the name of the King!"

Varian slowly turned around to face the guard overlooking up. "Oh-ho, you are gonna regret that." he chuckled, drawing a vial from his pocket.

The archer in question was already poised to strike, he let the arrow fly, Varian tossed the vial at the overhang. Cass watched in horror as, in spite of the smoke-screen, the arrow found its mark. Varian staggered back and went down. Yes, the archer was dead, but Varian was as good as dead.

"VARIAN!" she screamed, catching him before he hit the cold, hard ground.

"Cassie..." he breathed.

"Oh God, Varian... I'm so sorry!" she sobbed.

"I-It's okay, Cassandra." 

She was reminded of all those years ago, when he'd said those exact same words to her at the science expo. 

"N-No, Varian, it's not okay, this time it's not okay!" she cried.

He winced before leaning up and kissing her, she whimpered but didn't protest, it was the first and last time it would ever happen anyway.

"You know that girl... I thought about settling down with?"

She nodded tearfully.

"I'm looking at her now..."

He grasped her hand once before closing his eyes, when she felt him go limp, she knew.

"No! Varian! NO!" she cried.

As his hand slipped from her grasp she saw he had placed something in it. A vial like the one he had blasted the archer with, only this time it was larger and would definitely have more force.

"COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" shouted a voice, another guard.

"NEVER!!!" she cried. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the archers raise their arrows, it was now or never. Quickly she tossed the vial at a nearby rock and as the world exploded amid cloud of fire, flame, and some particularly lucky arrows, her last thought was...

" _I'm coming, Varian_..."


End file.
